Venture
by lyin
Summary: Blue-suit Ten says hello to Rose amidst good-byes, before final partings of the ways and the start of second chances. And then, together, they grab hold of a whole new universe. A series of during/post JE oneshots.
1. Righting

Spoilers! for Journey's End- and if you need to avoid them, really, just go to youtube and watch the episode! which, really, i thought was fabulous. It had everything, all at once- happy and tragic both every other moment.

the story: at the rate i'm going, this is bound to be a series of Doctor Who post-Journey's End one-shots. i'm on vacation and so mostly paper-and-penciling it, but was so blown away-inspired by the finale I had to write this. (my first Who!fic, so reader beware.)

_When Mickey's making his good-bye to Jackie and the Doctor to Jack and Martha, and Donna's on the phone, we get a quick glimpse of Rose and blue-suit Ten talking alone, and seemingly very happily._ Hadn't seen anyone start there yet, and it's been niggling at me, so- here you go.

* * *

"Hello."

It was the Doctor's voice. Rose stopped running her hand lightly over the TARDIS' controls and looked over her shoulder, already smiling. Her smile stilled as she turned. It was the Doctor's grin too, and his wave, fingers twiddling on the Doctor's hand. But it was the other man looking at her, the new new new Doctor in his blue suit.

"Rose Tyler," he added, rocking back on his heels a bit. Her name rolled off his lips a touch more crisply, maybe an extra trill to the Rs as well. She couldn't help but stare at his waving hand, and he couldn't help but notice with one swift glance between her gaze and the hand it was locked on. His fingers stopped twiddling and he lowered his right hand slowly, his tongue poking out his cheek as he waited for her to say something.

The hand he'd lost on Christmas, so long ago now and still yesterday, too. The hand this Doctor had somehow sprouted from. Or sprouted from Donna- Rose knew she'd come a long way from her shopgirl days but that didn't mean she had a handle on the particularities of instantaneous cross-species biological meta-crisis.

Rose steeled herself and met his eyes. "Hello," she said, trying to match his initial cheer and covering her confusion with curiosity. "Doctor?"

"Oh yes," he said, bobbing his head and giving her that impossibly infectious grin.

Her Doctor was making good-byes outside. Rose glanced behind her at the closed wood doors, then tilted her head and squinted at the Doctor saying hello as if he was burning too bright. "So, you're something like a clone, yeah?"

"Me? A clone?" he said, aghast. "A clone? _Nahh_. Not anymore than I'm- say- a Slitheen." He waited to see her reaction, then winked. "Remember that, yeah?"

It'd been years since he'd winked at her. She'd _missed_ that wink. She'd been waiting for it, the wink that let her know everything was all right, and she felt vaguely cheated for a moment to have gotten it from this Doctor, who she couldn't help but think of as Donna's, instead of hers outside. Her heart jumped anyways. Whoever's this Doctor was, the wink was for her. "'Course I remember," said Rose, bemused and drifting closer despite herself. "Sort of surprised you do."

"Oh but I remember everything," he said, tapping a finger against his head. "Bit like last time. But with two old heads instead of one new one. And a body for each, which I rather think is a stroke of good luck."

Rose decidedly agreed. "Suit for each too," she said, nodding at his outfit. "Blue's new."

"New_er_, actually," he said. "This suit's had a little wear and tear- more than this body, frankly. Wore blue a lot, after- well, with Martha- d'you like Martha?- quite a girl, that Martha Jones," he said, and Rose, who really rather had liked Martha, detested her for a second just from the way he lifted his eyebrows, wrong Doctor or not. "Her and me and this suit, we got around quite a bit. The usual, y'know, saving hospitals, New York City, spaceship crews, Shakespeare - no, wait, Shakespeare was _that _suit- ooh, you'd like Shakespeare, though, Rose. Genius. But bad breath. Still, name like yours, bet he'd write you a sonnet too. And I got old for a bit... I don't look good old," he said, halting suddenly and with a peculiar expression on his face, one that Rose found she couldn't read. "But that- " he waved his hand dismissively, as if to say it was unimportant, "that was in the other suit too. Blue's only slightly used- plenty of run left in it. So-" He took a breath and looked down at her, lowering his voice. "What do you think?"

She rested her tongue against the back of her teeth, fighting a grin as she studied him. "About the suit?" she said, and this Doctor, seeming almost winded, nodded as she looked him up and down. "It'll do," she said critically, and then her smile got loose and escaped towards her ears. "Matches the TARDIS!"

"Doesn't it just," he said, looking pleased and reaching with both hands as if to tug on something at his neck. He frowned a little at finding nothing. "Could use a tie. But you!" he said, looking her over and beaming proudly. "You, Rose Tyler- you're still fantastic."

She paused a moment, almost caught her breath. "Not brilliant?"

"Also brilliant," he said, without hesitation. "Absolutely brilliant. Smashingly brilliant,_ fantastically_ brilliant- ooh," he said, very brown eyes lighting. "I like that. Quite like that. Two in one. Though- bit mouthy?"

"Meh," she said, shrugging, and met his dancing eyes and they both broke out laughing. He tilted his head back and she bent forward, hair falling into her face and it was old times again. Everything seemed funny no matter how simple because here they were, all alright, and Earth safe again for today and Rose was back on the TARDIS. And it really was unbearably laughable in itself having two- let alone essentially three- Doctors run about to begin with. Rose thought then about the Doctor outside, in his brown pinstriped suit exactly like it had when he'd burned a sun to say good-bye to her at Bad Wolf Bay and found herself feeling uncomfortable. Her laugh trailed off and she straightened her shoulders, still smiling.

"You're still you, too," she said, marveling.

"Still me."

She gestured behind her with her thumb. "But _he's_ you."

"That he is," said this Doctor, his smile drying up.

"So- I mean, really," said Rose, looking up at him. "I'm talking to a hand."

Slowly he slid both hands out of his pockets again, then turned them palm up and down quickly. "Well," he said, clearing his throat. "I have two now, so there's a bit more to me than one hand. And I suppose you can talk to hands, but unless you're on the planet Fragelein, the conversation's pretty one-sided. There's more to a man than where he comes from, but you have to agree it's an awfully nice hand. A good hand, at least on its best behavior. You held this hand first- well, second, but that's nitpicking- not that you nitpick, Rose- but one reliable right hand, that's not a bad start for a man," he said, and that peculiar look flickered across his face again, as if he'd tasted something disgusting. "Or Time Lord. What-have-you."

"Not so sure about reliable," said Rose, face straight. "It did get chopped off rather quick."

"Oi, that wasn't the hand's fault," he said. "Could've been a worse start- could've been a left." His eyebrows quirked.

"Yeah, that might've been sinister," said Rose, and when he crinkled his nose at her she crinkled hers back. "And Donna," Rose continued, inclining her head towards the far side where Donna seemed to be trying to end her conversation with her mother on the mobile, "she- started you too?"

"'Fraid so," he said, pulling a face across the TARDIS at Donna Noble. Donna, with 904 years of accumulated Time Lord knowledge bubbling in her brain and representing all the intuitive brilliance of human women, stuck her tongue out at him. The Doctor eyed her appraisingly. "Be sure to slap me, if I'm any ruder. It's her fault."

"Ruder and not ginger," said Rose, the words waltzing off her tongue to a pleasantly familiar tune.

He looked at her sidelong, with a closed-mouth smile this time. "You'd think, of all the qualities I could have acquired from Donna Noble, I'd have at least picked up a hint of ginger," he said, sounding discouraged enough that Rose found herself taking a step closer to peer almost playfully at the side of his face. She pointed.

"You've sort of a dash of ginger there, in the left sideburn."

"Really?" he said, tickled, running a hand up from his chin as if he could feel the color. "I could grow a beard, see how it turns out-"

Rose didn't know Time Lords could grow beards, much less would want to, but the picture popping up in her mind of the Doctor was, for once, less than pretty. "No," she said, quickly. "Don't do that." She wondered, suddenly, if this Doctor would be around for her to see try to grow a beard or to see if he was ruder. She couldn't exactly imagine two of him functionally sharing the TARDIS.

Her expression must have changed, because his smile waned as he looked down at her. "What?" he asked.

"You're not going to- collapse back into a hand, are you?" she asked tentatively.

"No," he said immediately, adjusting his suit jacket and opening his mouth again.

"It's not that I want you to," Rose said, before he could ask. "Just checking."

"No- well- I can see how that might make- matters, well, simpler. Two- let alone sort of three- of me, there's bound to be complications-"

"Speak for yourself, spaceman," said Donna from over Rose's shoulder, shutting her phone with a firm click. She was still beaming, it was even in her voice. "For once everything's looking decidedly uncomplicated from my end."

Rose noticed that even as the Doctor- this Doctor, Donna's doctor, she reminded herself- grinned, there was something somber rising in his eyes. She wondered if Donna could recognize that, yet, and opened her mouth to ask what was wrong.

"Rose," called Mickey, and she looked over to see him with a hand on the door, giving her a nod. He really had meant it about leaving, then, with that kiss good-bye. She glanced once at the Doctor she'd been talking to, but he seemed embroiled in chatting with Donna now- thick as thieves came to mind with a pang, like her and him used to be (and would be again, she insisted to herself, her Doctor'd be back in any minute). She strode towards Mickey, another pang settling in her chest as she threw her arms around him. Rose was so sick of good-byes.

"The Doctor'll see you right," said Mickey, and for a moment, she absently wondered which one he was thinking of. "You know him. And you know where to find me, if he doesn't. Don't forget me, yeah?"

"Never," said Rose. "And Mickey, please. Take care." She pecked his lips, like she had for their very first kiss when she was fourteen.

He winked at her, too, and it didn't thrill her the way the Doctor's did but it made her smile, really smile, and that was the last look Mickey Smith had of her because he slipped out the doors without looking back once.

Rose didn't tear up, but she turned to her mother, noticing the Doctor in his blue suit watching her as she did though he was still talking with Donna.

"The Doctor'll take us home next, I suppose, sweetheart?" said her mother, adding rather forlornly, "Minus Mickey."

She loved her mother so much, but the Doctor was Rose's home. "Dunno," she said honestly, waiting for the TARDIS doors to swing open and her Doctor, in the brown suit she remembered, to bound back inside. Whichever version of him or however many there were, Mickey was right, she knew the Doctor. It would work out, and somehow, certainly after all this time, Rose was sure.

She'd stay with her Doctor.

It seemed only right.

_Please leave a review- it's the only payment fanficcers ever get, and stories like these, where the characters all belong to the BBC and I'm only harmlessly borrowing, are just for my own enjoyment and, I hope, yours. Feedback of any kind, though helpful's the preferred brand, is vastly appreciated. :D_


	2. Grip

Writing this scene was inevitable. I considered avoiding it... but there's just too much potential :D So, this is probably going to get sort of chapter-y anyways and i'm only calling them one-shots since I am a far cry from the world's speediest updater, but anyway, I've surrendered completely to the post-Journey's End Doctor/Rose syndrome and finally managed to finish a left-on-the-beach scene. So, I hope this is semi-original, at least... I have other scenes, including a short one that was supposed to be the end of this one but got too long, coming; and a Donna story that i'm not sure should be a chapter in this or on its own. I was planning in this, but since I'm changing the overall fic name I'm thinking more one-shot.

So, anyway, read, hopefully enjoy, reviews are ridiculously appreciated- it means a lot to hear what you have to think, especially since I'm new to writing in this fandom. thanks ;D

* * *

He took her hand.

Rose let him. She looked over, wordlessly, and held the somber gaze of the man in the blue suit as firmly as she gripped his hand. It was the only answer she had to give.

There was nothing to say yet. The air was too full of one sound, the TARDIS' grinding hum reigning over the lap of the water and whirl of the wind. It had been the only sound singing in her dreams for so long now. Rose supposed she wouldn't hear it outside her dreams again.

The thought that made her eyes sting was that neither would he, this Doctor staring into her eyes as if reading a text inscribed on her pupils. He was losing mastery of time and space for a small corner of a universe with Rose Tyler, former shopgirl, and she wasn't sure what his own free will had to do with it.

She knew his eyebrows, those sideburns, those very proportional ears. And part of her wanted to simply reach out and cup his face, because this Doctor was hearing his oldest and dearest companion disappear for the very last time. But there was a sour taste in her mouth too, like when Shareen or another school friend would push to set her up with some bloke, whatever her say in the matter.

So she only held his hand.

She'd held it before. This exact hand, not just an identical one with the same bony knuckles for her fingertips to rest against. Not just the same feel to the skin the Doctor's hand had always had- comfortably dry, running a bit cool. It had been_ this_ hand gripping hers while he swore he was the same man after he'd changed, this hand she'd pulled through the sleeve of those ridiculous pajamas, this hand she'd brushed hers over with a prayer her Doctor would wake up in time to save the world and Christmas too. It had felt wrong then, as had he, too warm and near feverish with all that burning energy pulsing through him down to his fingertips.

She couldn't distinguish it now from the hand she'd grown accustomed to holding, not even by temperature, human or not. Probably the hand had adjusted to whatever his hybrid biology required, or maybe when this hand had fallen through the clouds something of that cool air lingered for keeps.

The air felt empty the moment the last humming echo was gone, and the repetitive rush of the waves stretched the silence like a ticking clock.

She couldn't look away. She couldn't pull her hand back. And he wouldn't, either. His Adam's apple bobbed, so familiarly it made her own throat ache.

All thoughts that the Doctor was more than one man had flown off into the wind when his warm breath and three words- just three words- had brushed her ear. It was only when the TARDIS' engines started that she came to and realized she'd made a choice. She'd kissed the wrong Doctor – or maybe the right one, the one both of him wanted her to kiss and stay with in this universe, the one she knew her mother would want her to stay with.

A human Doctor who could give her everything he never could and nothing that he'd given her once. No more stars, even if they'd kept them from fading into darkness.

One of them had to say something, because they wouldn't have much time before Jackie Tyler grew impatient and beat them to it. Rose could see her mother in the corner of her eye, crunching sand yards behind them as she shifted her weight and crossed her arms. Rose didn't want her mother to have to speak up first because they already had nothing to say to each other.

It wasn't that she had nothing to say. It was that there was too much, much too much to process or explain what she was thinking, and she didn't know how to get started climbing out of alright back to brilliant.

There was one word, of course, on the tip of her tongue. Had been for years now. The last time he'd gone and become a new man on her, without a word of warning- at least not a word of sense that Rose Tyler, former shopgirl, could follow at the time- he'd taken her hand with that word. And then it was alright. Not brilliant yet, but there a shard of brilliance rekindling in that fantastic word- _Run_.

Run, unfortunately, would be a bit silly to say now, since there wasn't anything to run from and she didn't know what they were running to yet. That had been the beginning to another story, one that was still going but was- different. Again. They'd had their hellos and after all she'd just snogged him so that wouldn't do either.

For the second time in her life Rose found herself standing in Bad Wolf Bay with no idea what to say to the one man she thought she could talk to forever.

His lips parted first. Rose knew from the way his eyebrows folded in towards his nose exactly what he was going to say.

"I'm sorry," he said, pale and squinting in the Norway sun.

In so many ways she was sorry too, to see that wonderful blue box and its Doctor (her real Doctor, her mind whispered traitorously) fade away, leaving her stranded again and this new man without all the things she thought of as part of the Doctor.

"Don't be," Rose said thickly, instead. Strands of her hair slapped against her eyes and she could have cursed the wind, since it wasn't exactly helping her hold back the liquid welling in them. The words whipped against her heart even harder. She almost wanted to say _don't you dare be sorry with me now_ but it wasn't this Doctor she was angry at- or maybe it was, just now she couldn't work out where the Doctor who stayed stopped and the one who'd left began. "Please. Don't do that." She hesitated, worrying her lower lip and glancing down at their joined hands. She met his eyes again with as much steel as she could muster. "Doctor," she added, as if his name was always meant to be the last note of her request.

His eyes, still a brown so deep Rose thought she could swim in it, stayed sober even though his lips turned up in a smile. "Alright," he said, taking a deep breath of the salty ocean air. "No apologies. Am I that sort of a man?" he mused, apparently to the sky, before fixing his gaze intently on her. "Do you want me to be that sort of man?" said the Doctor, very quietly.

"I'm not asking you to be anything else," she said, loosening her fingers from his grip. "Only- you've never needed to apologize to me. Never have done… really." Rose swallowed and found herself gulping air. So many times he could have apologized to her. Any of the times she'd been stranded. Any of the times he'd gotten them in trouble. But sorry spoke of regret and she'd never regretted a single second with the Doctor. She'd rather thought it meant something he didn't apologize to her. Like he knew he didn't need to.

Except right before this second regeneration, this delayed one. He said _I'm sorry_ more to her than Donna and Jack but then he didn't change and she was too relieved to wonder what for. Rose wondered if he'd known, then, if he'd already been planning to leave her with this second self. She wasn't ready to ask. She was afraid of the answer.

He reached out with his free hand. She flinched, and his left hand only brushed by her face, gently tucking her hair behind her ear and out of her eyes. "Lot of things I never said to you," he said lowly. "Things I should've- " He looked away, but the movement of his throat gave his feelings away. "Barcelona," he said with his put-on cheer, looking back to her. "We never did get there, Rose- there was so much to see and I never showed you Barcelona. Oh, I thought about that. I was gonna take you-"

"Barcelona?" said Jackie Tyler, sand crunching under her boots. They turned as one to face her, waiting behind them with her arms folded and her mobile in her hand. "What're you fussing about Spain for? It's only _Spain_, we do still have that here, Doctor. What? 'Scuse me for being worried with the too of you just standing there whispering at each other, but can't you fret about Spain once we're out of bloody Norway? Rose, I- _What?_"

They might have been slightly hysterical, but they were laughing. Rose finally let go of the Doctor's hand to bring her hands towards her stomach as she half-doubled over, tears finally falling down her cheeks as he laughed. His shoulder bumped hers and out of the corner of her eye she could see a real grin on his face again. His grin didn't do anything to stop the wild fluttering in her stomach. Quite the opposite, in fact.

"Good to know there's still Spain," said the Doctor, half-gasping. "I'd miss the rain and its plain and all- I can't see why there wouldn't have been a Spain-"

"There isn't a Portugal," said Rose, rubbing at the water in her eyes and catching her breath. "Spain's a bit bigger, here."

"Oh but I like Portugal," said the Doctor, frowning. "They do the best fandango in Portugal- no Portugal, that's weird."

"It's a parallel universe," said Rose. "It's all a bit weird- not for Dad, of course, but it's still new for us. New's always a little weird."

He lifted his eyebrows. "Good weird or bad weird?"

"Different-weird," said Rose, lifting her chin. "I can get used to different, you know. Got some practice."

"Yeah," said the Doctor, grinning. "Me too." He stepped a little closer.

Jackie cleared her throat. "Practice whatever you like-"

"_Mum!_" said Rose, glancing over her shoulder.

"- can we see about getting ourselves home first? My mobile's shorted out, sweetheart- give me yours a minute, will you?" Jackie, not-so-subtly, was scanning her daughter's face with concern, making sure she was alright even as she held out her hand.

Rose pulled it out of her jacket pocket easily and flicked it open, the iridescent blue glow reflecting on her thumbnail. "No worries, Mum," she said, breathing as easily as she could. "You'll be able to get through Dad fine on this. Still hasn't ever lost its charge," she said to the Doctor.

"Superphone," he said, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Exactly," said Rose.

"Pete?" said Jackie, walking away with the phone to her ear and talking over the waves. "We're home! … No, in Norway … yes, Rose too, she's fine- what're you doing at Control, you're supposed to be with Tony- Peter Alan Tyler, my baby had _better_ not be at that Hub… I don't care if-"

Rose looked at the Doctor, who was looking over at Jackie as well. "They're really happy," she said, and even trying to be funny she couldn't make it sound ironic.

"I believe that," he said, nodding, and looked off to the horizon line where the water and sky bled into each other in an indistinguishable foggy blue.

"She'll probably be on the phone awhile," said Rose, tracing her foot through the sand. She felt his eyes on her and looked up. "Knowing my mum," she said, managing a slight smile.

"This is all rather embarrassing," he muttered.

"What?" she said, too sharply, and followed immediately with a gentler, "What do you mean?"

"Calling for your dad to come pick us up- like some schoolboy without a license. I'll have to get a car," he said suddenly. "Had cars, once. Even built one. Not exactly my preferred mode of travel, obviously, slow-going, only two directions unless something's gone interestingly, but they're not bad, for human travel," said the Doctor.

"Travel," Rose repeated, watching him carefully.

"Weellll," he said, pulling his hands out of his pockets and jamming them back in, leaving his thumbs twiddling against the blue suit. "I suppose you wouldn't- we probably should-"

"What?" said Rose, stepping to his side and looking up at him.

"Go places," he blurted out. "If you want," he added. "Barcelona, for one. I wonder if the planet's still out there here- if we suppose they're different too, depending on what changed, where this universe splintered off from our own- but even so, the city's nice. Spain-and-Portugal, that could be- nice," said the Doctor, looking at her sidelong.

"Could be," said Rose noncommittally. "And you know, there's Pompeii."

He looked at her. "You mean the ashes?" he said, brow furrowed. "I know it gets a lot of tourists, Rose, but I'd really rather-"

"It's not in ashes," said Rose, drawing out the words and watching for his reaction. "When I left the Arsenal were playing Pompeii. They've got quite the football team, took the European Cup last year. Supposed to be beautiful there."

"No," he said, eyes wide.

"Yes," she countered. "I was going to ask you about that- I'd sort of think a volcano meant to erupt would erupt, even if different decisions led to different things or whatever makes a parallel universe- parallel."

The Doctor rubbed at his left ear. "Ahh, well, it's hard to say with parallel universe- which is sort of a misnomer really," he said, "since they're not so much running alongside as breaking off the fluxing but primarily linear progression of time, I suppose more properly they're tangent universes- and you never know what can end up changing, since all those little wavy strands leftover from big, matter-ish… stuff, they reach farther than you'd – What?"

She bumped her shoulder against his. "Something I should know?"

He stared at her for a moment. "I might have had something to do with Vesuvius erupting." His throat bobbed. "Had to- it was Pompeii or the world."

Rose let her hand drift back down to hang alongside the Doctor's. "Anything to worry about here?" she asked softly.

"Suppose not," he said. The backs of their hands touched and they both kept them there. "Pyrovillia was one of the twenty-seven planets, the Pyroviles- humanoids, not the cuddly kind- fell to Earth when it was taken. But it was never taken from this universe- only the one we've just left… so I suppose no Pyroviles ever troubled Pompeii."

"And no Doctor would've been there to stop them," said Rose, grabbing his hand decidedly.

"Now there's a thought," he said, his expression absent and his eyes suddenly distant. Still, he squeezed her hand. "No me. I've run all around this planet- well, not this planet exactly, that's the point- but I have gotten slightly _involved _in your history. As you know."

"Oh I gathered," said Rose. "Queen Victoria got possessed by the wolf here, by the way, without you and me. They had to have a coup. No Empire of the Wolf- no more Empire. The British Republic. I've missed the queen and country bit. No royal family at all. But we've still got Harriet Jones."

"Good egg, that Harriet Jones," said the Doctor warmly. "Considering her successor… well, if there's anyone I owe an apology to, it's the other Harriet- our Harriet Jones."

"She died," said Rose, and he looked at her sharply. "Opening the subwave network. I told him, the other Doctor… I forgot for a moment-"

"That you didn't tell me too," he finished quietly, moving his shoulder closer to hers. The Doctor exhaled through his teeth, working his jaw.

"I could- catch you up on those hours," said Rose, watching a flat hard look appear slide into his eyes. It softened as he turned them back to her. "Got time for catching up, you and me."

"I'm glad," he said, and the way he looked at her she wanted to kiss him again. From the look in his eye she thought he might kiss her.

"Alright," called Jackie, walking back towards them, phone still tucked between her ear and shoulder. The Doctor moved a few inches out of Rose's personal space, but kept his eyes on hers.

"Are we?" the Doctor asked Rose, quietly.

She smiled, close-lipped. "Don't think that was a question," she whispered back.

"Your father's sent a car for us from Bergen, he _says_ it's a fast car but it's still another hour and a half 'fore it even gets here," Jackie shouted as she trudged back towards them. She didn't really need to shout across the short distance and closing.

"I'm asking you, Rose Tyler," the Doctor said into her hair, his lips brushing her ear. Rose shivered. "Besides that we're facing several hours unable to escape your mother. We alright?"

"I think we're best off finding a nice log or flat rock and having a sit, what do you think, Rose? Doctor?" said Jackie, and then into the phone, "Yes, I told you, Pete, it's _him_, or she wouldn't still be here, now would she?"

"We'll be better than alright," said Rose, and turned her head to press her lips against his cheek. She left her lips pushed into his skin for a moment because he smelled the same, as fresh and steadying as crisp air in the middle of night. Only the Doctor could leave her and stay with her forever in the same second.

"Brilliant," said the Doctor, louder and brightly, and it might have been to Rose or to Jackie. Rose silently agreed.

Jackie finished making a kissing noise into the phone and clicked it off. "It really is good to have you here, Doctor," she said, with a pleased sigh.

The Doctor looked at Rose, and she at him. "Isn't it just," he said, smiling, and then he nodded at something over Rose's shoulder. "I see logs," he told Jackie, pointing. "Bit down the beach. Something lump-shaped, anyways. Let's take a look, Rose," he said, and his face came alive. "We can share one, if you like."

_Stuck with you, that's not so bad._

_ Yeah?_

"Not you, though, Jackie," the Doctor added quickly. "You'll have to get your own log."

"Rude," warned Rose, ducking her chin to hide her half-smile in her hair.

"I think I'd be disappointed if he wasn't," said Jackie, shaking her head and not quite smiling. Her eyes, though, were all relief. "Go on, then," she said. "I'll try and keep up."

The Doctor tugged lightly on Rose's arm, as if to check. When he stepped, she stepped with him. He seemed to be waiting.

"Run," exclaimed Rose, as if it was obvious, and he grinned wolfishly and took to his heels, yanking her after.

And together, they ran.


	3. A Lift

A/N: Doctor Who's the BBC's entirely and I am just borrowing it all for my fun and hopefully, yours. :D Sorry for the slow update, hope you enjoy- there's not much action (in, well, any sense, honestly) but I'm going more adventure-y from now on. I just had to write this chapter. Reviews mean a lot, they're the closest thing to payment fanficcers ever get, so if you could leave a thought or just let me know you swung through and enjoyed (or, I suppose, didn't ;P) the read, I'd really appreciate. Thanks again to everyone who's read & reviewed the story so far!

* * *

Not even Jackie breathed a word when they saw their ride heading towards them down the sandy strip of a road.

The car that came for them was a Mercedes-Benz, like most Bergen taxis. In this universe the make trundling down the beach sloped from a sleek front into a car body that was almost squared-off.

Even from a distance, it was unmistakably boxy.

And it was blue.

Rose had to try extraordinarily hard to hold down a laugh that would have been too close to a heave. She couldn't laugh, not when the Doctor's face sort of collapsed before he caught her looking and smiled with everything but his eyes.

"Aren't taxis usually yellow?" he asked quietly, his breath warm against her ear.

"Not here," she said, and couldn't make her smile reach her eyes either.

They moved nearer, Jackie waving it down as if the driver was likely to miss the only figures on the beach.

Sand spewed out from under the tires in small grainy fountains until the taxi reached the point where the sand darkened and dampened, a good forty yards back from the water at this low ebb. The taxi stopped short, tires impressing a pattern on the sand that wouldn't last minutes after it left. Its tinted window lowered slowly and the driver stuck his head out for a better look at them. "Right where I was told you would be," he said with only a light accent, curiosity turning up the droops in his doughy face. "Tyler party?"

"'Course, do you see anyone else standing about waiting for a lift?" asked Jackie, bee-lining for the Mercedes-Benz. The driver barely managed to hop out in time to open the door for her. "Thank you, luv," she said much more pleasantly, tucking her jacket beneath her and reclining against the comfortable leather seat with an exhaled, "Ahh…"

Without taking Rose's hand and with a distracted expression, the Doctor moved towards the car appraisingly. Rose watched him cautiously as he walked right past the open car door and began to circle the taxi.

"No luggage, then?" said the driver, staring at the air around Rose's feet and empty hands as if expecting bags to materialize.

"We travel light," said Rose absently, her eyebrows lifting as the Doctor crouched down and craned his neck to see the underside of the taxi.

"What's he doing then?" said the driver, mouth slack as the Doctor stood and clapped a hand against the taxi's side, holding it against the slick blue surface for a moment as if in consideration. He strode purposefully towards the hood.

"Just- checking," said Rose vaguely, trying not to show her concern and hooking her hands into her jacket pocket. She forced herself to beam at the driver, catching his attention as the Doctor popped open the hood. "Really, thank you for coming straightaway…"

"No need to thank me, ma'am, your fare's been seen to. At your service," said the driver, glancing over his shoulder at the Doctor with consternation. Jackie was leaning out of the back, gesturing at the Doctor with a crooked finger and hissing, but with his head under the hood he didn't seem to notice. "If you wouldn't mind, perhaps you could get your friend in the suit to stop- _checking_ my vehicle so we might get going?"

"Is this a solar-powered battery pack?" the Doctor said in apparent delight as he prodded at something that doubtlessly didn't need prodding. He lifted his head out, shaking it slightly as if bemused, and closed the hood delicately. "Oh, that's a step up for your-" he caught Rose's eye as he turned, "no, no, _our_ lot. Still primitive, obviously-"

"This is a top of the line taxi, sir," said the driver, shifting uncomfortably.

"Oh yes," said the Doctor, quickly. "It's a very, very nice- blue- car with absolutely no need for any sort of atmospheric omission system- I like it already. Hello," he added, as he strolled over, checking the nametag hanging on the right hand side of the driver's black jacket. He squinted. "Cathby, is it?"

"Cadby, sir," said the driver, now looking at Rose nervously. She couldn't open her mouth or even bring herself to take the Doctor's hand to stop him. Her throat had a tight hysterical feeling, the way it got before a laugh so hard it left her stomach aching or a long good cry and she had no idea which was rising. She felt it wouldn't be an appropriate time for either, particularly not with Cadby present.

"Really?" said the Doctor, slightly perturbed. "Well, good man, Cadby, you have splendid taste in taxis."

"It's standard in Bergen, sir," said Cadby.

"Well, a standard I wouldn't mind seeing around London," called Jackie, from inside the car, and inwardly Rose blessed her mother. "Quite swanky. Now if you lot could be troubled to _hop in_, we all might actually see London tonight."

"Excepting Cadby," said the Doctor helpfully. Cadby gave him a faint nod of agreement.

Rose shoved down the impulse in the back of her throat, stowed it for later, for a somewhen to herself, and grabbed the Doctor's arm. He was worrying her a little. "Come on," she said, with only a hint of a threat in her smile. He quirked an eyebrow at her as she pulled him towards the car. "Allons-y, yeah?"

"Oh _quite_," he said, with a rush of warmth, and she wondered if he'd replayed everything they'd said that last day in his head as many times as she had. Or more, perhaps. "Did I mention, Rose," he said, ducking into the car at Rose's prompting as Jackie, sighing, budged over. The Doctor looked askance at Jackie, finding himself in the middle, but relaxed against the seat, turning his head to look at Rose. "I met an Alonzo?"

She felt a rush of warmth as she shut the door behind them. It was him, it was so him. "You didn't!"

"Did too," he said

"Wish I'd been there," said Rose, without thinking, and watched a shade fall across his face.

He didn't say _me too_ and she thought perhaps that hadn't been a day when everybody lived. The taxi started with a rumble before the Doctor said anything at all.

Rose cleared her throat instead. "Seatbelt," she pointed out, clicking her own into place, and in a moment the click of his echoed hers.

"Y'know, Jackie, you had a point- I'm as surprised as you to be saying that- this is rather swanky," said the Doctor, drawing out the word and rubbing the leather seat thoughtfully.

"Oh it's swanky alright, and we're paying through the teeth for it, I'm sure," Jackie said lowly, rolling her eyes and clicking her tongue. They'd gotten used to having money by now but Rose was a bit proud her mother still believed in bargain-hunting above all. "If they had fares like this in London, they'd be rioting in the streets-"

Rose closed her eyes briefly. She'd had enough of rioting in the streets for a good long while. She glanced out the window as they headed up the half-mile of beach back towards something of a real road, leaving Dalig Ulv Stranden, a place as lovely as she might find in the universe and yet so hard for her to even think of, behind again. She remembered this drive, forehead resting against the glass of the window and the taste of salt in her mouth. Years ago now but it felt for a moment as if no time had passed, as if she were still twenty-one and stranded from all she wanted in the universe. She caught the Doctor watching her in the reflection.

"Suppose you're not used to taking taxis," said Jackie to the Doctor, and Rose turned.

"Oh, nah, it's old hat," he said, aware of Cadby watching in the mirror. "If you run too far and need to get back quick, well, there's no better way, is there?"

"What about money?" said Rose, leaning her shoulder against his.

"Money," he said, looking overwhelmed by the very word. "Well, it wasn't a problem, last time. Martha had money, and pockets- always sensible, Martha- weellll, mostly- though there was a bit of a fuss over us bringing the bows and arrows along."

"Can't _imagine_ why," said Jackie.

"Bows and arrows?" repeated Rose, wondering where he'd picked up archery. It wasn't all that surprising after the swashbuckling he'd pulled against the Sycorax, claiming over Christmas dinner that he'd picked up swordsmanship from a captain in Cleo's guards. "Going a bit Robin Hood, were yah?"

"He only robbed _people_," said the Doctor. "I had to handle a lizard. A very large lizard, and let me tell you, hitting the soft spot of a fully-grown horned Alamandridian in the middle of its hatching cycle is a good deal more difficult than hitting a bullseye. And no one claps." He cocked his head, reflectively. "Weelll, Martha might have, if she hadn't been the one to hit it. Perhaps I should have clapped…"

Rose could see Cadby's eyes in his rearview mirror, very round and perturbed. He probably thought the Doctor was a madman. It wouldn't be the first time he'd been taken as such.

"What sort of planet was that on?" said Jackie, mouth half-open and shuddering with distaste. Jackie had never been on friendly terms with slimy creatures, unless Rose counted a few of the men her mother had dated.

"Oh, Earth, London, you probably have some here," he said. "There's always plenty in your sewage systems, but that's usually on the males. Harmless, they are, it's female of the species you have to watch out for," he said, and threw a wink at Rose.

"Isn't it usually," muttered Cadby the driver, and Rose thought they probably should see about raising the glass between him and the back.

"What, in our sewers? Like crocodiles?" said Jackie, voice rising.

"Nah, much bigger," he said, gesturing the length of the car. "And you're thinking of alligators, Jackie. That's just an urban legend. Though I ran into a few crocodiles in the sewers of Constantinople…"

"And what were you doing in the sewers of Constantinople?" Rose asked, her knee pressing against his as the car turned.

He noticed, and seemed distracted for a moment. "Oh," he said, scratching his head. "That's a bit of a story…"

"We've got a bit of a ride," said Cadby, a little loudly, and they all jumped. Drat, did this taxi even have glass to raise?

"Fair point, Cathby," said the Doctor, leaning back and putting his hands behind his head and stretching his legs out as far as he could. The seats were roomy, but Jackie and Rose both still had to scoot away from his elbows. He was so bony they felt sharp.

"And I think you mean Istanbul," added the driver, glancing back at them for a moment, his meaty face attentive.

"Oh no," said the Doctor, very seriously. "I meant Constantinople."

So the Doctor talked and they interrupted, even Cadby- who Rose would make sure got a hefty tip even though that wasn't usually done in Bergen, just to make sure none of this touched the tabloids, she'd had quite enough of that with being the mysterious Vitex heiress. Apparently he'd gotten along quite well with some actress turned empress named Theodora, which Rose didn't like one bit, not the way he said _actress_.

"Exactly how well did you know her?" she asked, looking out the window and trying to sound casual.

No answer. Oh, that boded terrifically. Not that she was jealous of a woman dead for a thousand years anyway.

"Doctor?" she said, glancing over when he didn't elaborate.

His mouth was half-parted, but his eyes were closed. Rose thought for a moment he was thinking, but then his head nodded towards his chest.

Jackie leaned forward to look across him, her blue eyes reflecting two miniscule upside-down and very nervous Roses back at the original. "His head isn't imploding again, is it?"

"Sshh," said Rose, touching the Doctor's face lightly with one hand and reaching across with the other to feel his pulse.

"Everything all right back there?" said Cadby, who was really annoying Rose by now. She hadn't had to deal with anyone half so curious in a while; people tended not to ask questions when she walked about with a gun half her own size.

"Peachy," snarled Jackie, watching carefully.

His breath was steady, his pulse was steady, his temperature was still just a touch cool. Not hot.

Then he wuffled.

There was no other word for it, really, a drawn-out snorting puff of air with what was almost a humming sound. The Doctor stirred, shifted to the left, and readjusted himself.

"Was that a snore?" said Jackie, looking almost offended.

"Well – yeah," said Rose, breaking into a surprised smile and settling back into her own seat.

"Oh, I like that," said Jackie, in a tone that made it clear she very much did not. "You and I've been our feet for days' worth by now- when's the last time you slept, sweetheart? – and here he is, not even alive that long – that's meant euphemistically, Cadby-"

"Metaphorically," amended Rose.

"- out like a light! How's he sleeping- 'scuse me, Cadby, but you could try to avoid at least some of the potholes-"

"I'll do my best, ma'am," he said, nodding, just as the Doctor's head nodded its way onto Rose's shoulder.

She'd last caught sleep more than seventy-two hours ago, tossing back sleeping pills to catch a catnap in the blacked-out room they had set up for her in Control and as much caffeine as she could stand before hefting her gun and cannoning again through the howling whiteness of the Void for the horrible split-second between places.

She supposed she could begrudge him sleep if she'd wanted. Half a day, maybe, this body had existed, if she didn't count the hand, and he was worn out already.

With 900 years of sleepless dreamless days packed into his head, it was no wonder. Speaking of, they never ceased- a Time Lord, or half-Time Lord anyways, asleep on her shoulder.

She could get used to this.

"Shhh," she said to her mother again, this time softly, and stared at the window at the pinking sky, as the hours turned towards vesper.

He didn't look boyish asleep, or old and tired either, only troubled, brow creased all the way down to his shut eyes. If they'd have been alone she'd have done what she could to smooth it, but as it was she only shifted her shoulder when he seemed uncomfortable or about to slip.

They reached the Clarion Hotel attached to Bergen's Flesland Airport just shy of two hours from the blue taxi's arrival. Jackie'd checked in with Pete on the superphone, quietly- well, quietly, for her- and they had tickets waiting for a flight out in five hours, with rooms reserved to catch up on sleep in the meantime.

Rose had already made up her mind when they pulled in.

"Wake up," she said in his ear, and he didn't right away. She had to shake his shoulder lightly before he snapped to.

"What?" he said, looking around, startled. His eyes darted like he was ready to bolt.

"We get out here," she said, stepping out of the taxi.

"Already?" said the Doctor, looking disappointed. Cadby seemed sorry to see them go. He even honked at them and waved as he pulled away.

The Doctor, still blinking, looked rather longingly after the boxy blue car. She didn't think he was missing Cadby, particularly since he still hadn't gotten his name down.

"I'll check us in, we can get out tickets there on our way out, too," said Jackie brightly, and taking in the Doctor, who was hanging onto Rose's sleeve and catching his foot on the pavement as if dazed, lowered her voice. "Don't go losing that one," she said, "he wanders off, we'll be trying to drag him back all night instead of catching a decent rest. I know full well how he can be."

"What?" said the Doctor, muddled, and running his hands across his face. "Is she going somewhere?" he said, as Jackie strolled towards the front desk.

They stood in the crowded lobby, the two of them alone amidst the bustle. "Yeah," said Rose. "She's going back to London in a few hours. Got zeppelin tickets for all of us waiting."

"Oh," said the Doctor, almost apprehensively. "I suppose that means peanuts and juice boxes for us too," he said, and she wondered what he'd run into lately that would make him mention relatively innocent food with such distaste.

"If you want," said Rose, shrugging.

He blinked the haze out of his eyes. "Don't you?"

"I could use a vacation," she said frankly. "And like I said, all the girls at work said Pompeii's lovely. This girl Lisa, she honeymooned there." She regretted that last sentence instantly, and quickly added, "There's a lot of fuss over some masterpieces from the Pompeiian Renaiisance, and the theaters are big. Oh, and snorkeling."

"Love the snorkeling," he said vaguely.

Jackie came back, waving their room keys. "Fourth floor, let's go up and get some shut-eye then."

"Is she joking?" said the Doctor, looking horrified.

"No," said Rose, surprised.

"But I've just slept," he complained. "Hour of my life, gone, like that," he snapped for emphasis, "I haven't even recovered from_ that_ yet and you think I ought to try some more of it?"

"I haven't slept," said Rose.

"Oh- well," he said, deflating. "Can't have that. Lead on, then, Jackie."

She didn't, quite. The Doctor spotted the escalator and sprang ahead, apparently rejuvenated. Jackie caught her arm before she could catch up.

"Pete got you a room with two beds," hissed Jackie. "Told him a big one for you and him, I figured, but- well- he's your father, you're lucky he didn't get three. S' that alright?"

"Mum, I'm _tired_. And really, please don't – just- don't. Especially not in front of him."

"'S not like he's in ear range," said Jackie, mollified anyhow. "It's only for a couple of hours, we'll be back before-"

"About that," said Rose, facing her mother and stepping onto the escalator backwards. Jackie stepped after, lips pursing, face clearly saying she wasn't going to like this.

"I thought him and me might drive back," she said, adding hastily, "he's good with cars."

"But there's no need-"

"No, there is," said Rose, looking behind her to see the Doctor was already waiting at the escalator top, tapping his toes. "We're gonna need this."

"At least come home and pack-"

"I'll have my phone and Dad can wire me money, Torchwood owes me all kinds of money- there's all sorts of rental agencies right out of the airport, and you saw him, the Doctor _likes_ cars- not sure that he's ever needed a license…"

Jackie lifted her chin and Rose found it hard to meet her mother's eyes. "And I don't suppose you're driving straight home."

"… Sorry, Mum. Not quite."

Her mother's face looked old to her for a moment, drawn and resigned. "Same old life," she said, like each movement of her mouth pained her. "I shouldn't be surprised. It's not like you were any different without him- always at one Torchwood or another, and me not knowing if you were in Glasgow or Cardiff or even in this universe."

Rose felt the escalator end beneath her. She hadn't been paying attention and her step faltered for a second as her heel hit the flat metal platform at the top, but he was in just the right spot to slide his arms under hers and even pull her out of the way for Jackie.

He smiled, tiredly. "It isn't fair," he said, setting her all the way back on her feet and taking her hand. "I actually feel like I could do with more shut-eye. Is this what being human is? Being tired all the time? It's _awful_."

"Better get used to it," said Rose teasingly, though her eyelids felt suddenly heavy. "If you're going to do this human thing the right way, that'll mean sleeping_ every_ night…"

"Not all night," he protested. "I mean, really, I've traveled with you lot enough, you get up to more than that at night- you all right, Jackie?" he said, suddenly all innocent concern.

Jackie stopped choking, holding up her hand for him to give her a moment. "Fine," she said, and Rose wasn't sure who her glare was meant for.

Same old life, her mother'd said.

But it wasn't looking out that way, Rose thought, and figured it was good thing she was tired since she wasn't ready to think out sleeping arrangements yet. At least they weren't sharing a room with her mother and wouldn't be under her father's roof at first, that was a start.

It was something brand new flavored with the way it had been, déjà vu all over again and undoubtedly trouble but it was all streets they hadn't turned down before, all risk and change she wasn't sure if she liked or not yet. And hurt it a little, because this wasn't the man she'd fought her way across the stars to get back too, the man somewhere in his magical blue box with Donna Noble and his own new new life.

But he was _almost_ and he was hers and he was better maybe with her than he would be without, and maybe they could be happier than she could ever be with the Time Lord who looked at her and saw so much dust slipping through his fingers.

Her time and _his_ were twined together now. Even the hours they spent dreaming.

"C'mon, you," she said, when her mother finally handed her the key and let her go for now. She knew Jackie would wake them up in the morning just to check if they'd changed their minds and would fly after all, come _home_, but they couldn't yet. They had to work out their own home, and especially with the TARDIS gone, it had nothing to do with walls or even England.

There were two beds and they didn't even think about it, didn't take off their clothes or turn down the sheets. He flopped down, head propped back on the pillows, and tilted his head at her as if it were a question. She shut off the light and chose and moved towards the faint glimmer of light reflecting off his eyes. She laid her head on the bed, her arm on his chest, and felt him slide his head down and closer.

He laid his hand over hers. Between his chest and his wrist Rose could feel his one pulse beating in time with hers, their heartbeats twinning as their breathing settled and grew slow.

"I'm so glad," he whispered, and yawned, unable to finish his sentence.

It didn't matter. She was, too.

They fell asleep in moments to the sound of two heartbeats. Hers and his, side by side.

Rose's last thought for a while was that it wouldn't be so hard to get used to this.


	4. Turn

A/N: Well, they don't get to Pompeii yet- that's still coming! Sorry for the delay in chapter updating, life's been crazy, and plus, lost the whole document and had to rewrite the darned thing. Which I suppose allows for improvement but drives me crazy. Hope this is at least a nice tide-over chapter until I get a possibly more actual adventure-y one done. :D Please leave a review if you like, it's the closest thing to payment fanfic writers ever get and it really means a lot to know someone out there's enjoying it or even thinks it's worth the time to critique/comment! ;D

* * *

It was his turn.

Rose wasn't going to tell the Doctor that, though. Not telling him was practically the _point_. Rose had made up her mind, and if there was one thing she'd learned during the past few years at Torchwood it was to stick to her guns.

"Please," he said, almost threateningly, from the passenger seat of their rented blue Jeep.

It was _not_ his turn to drive.

Rose kept her eyes focused on the road, flexing her hands slightly on the steering wheel. "Nope."

"Rose Tyler," he said, her name snapping off his tongue unfamiliarly. "Times beyond count- well," the Doctor said, pausing, the hurry gone from his voice, "countable, but it'd take even me a while- well, a quarter hour… look, to clarify, I have on a regular basis guided a _rather _more complex vehicle than this across the Void, where even Eternals fear to tread. I've gotten to Cyrennis Minima by way of the Althrace System, during rush hour."

He waited a moment, clearly expecting some sign she was impressed, but she merely glanced into the rearview mirror with a polite expression. The Doctor scowled.

"I've evaded the clouds of air mines in the skies of Rit, I've circumnavigated the seven moons of Avalon in seven minutes while siphoning toxic gases from their atmospheres, I've navigated the Kessel Run in less than twelve- no, wait, sorry, that's _Star Wars_. But I have been known to get the TARDIS through the takeaway drive-through on New Alexandria, which is a rather impossible thing to do to get breakfast."

"Speaking of, you hungry?" she asked airily.

"Rose!" he snapped, darkly. "I am more than capable of operating a twenty-first century Jeep in this or any other universe."

"That's not what the French police said," she said, lips tight though her tone was light. Rose wasn't really sure herself if she was fighting a smile or keeping them from trembling.

"Oh, well, France," he blustered, a rough edge to his voice. "Different planet, whole other kettle of bouillabaisse. They're the lot who gave bizarreness to _bizarre_. And I have it on good authority the French police won't give you no peace-"

"That last bit's from a Rod Stewart song," said Rose, now definitely fighting a smile as she looked over at him.

"Oi, Rod's a good authority," said the Doctor. He propped his elbows up on the car door and arm rest, lifting himself up a bit to face her better and stretching out the seat belt she'd made him wear. "Granted, he can be a bit- tarty, but still a trustworthy bloke, and a good harmonica player- you can count on harmonica players. Really, you'll never meet a two-faced harmonica player, Rose- well, not metaphorically, though I don't suppose we ever will get to Ganesh, their musicians have quite the respiratory advantage what with both mouths – but generally harmonica players aren't ever duplicitous. Misunderstood, certainly, slightly maniacal, quite possibly, but there's just so much _soul_ behind a properly played harmonica- and oh _no_, you can't fake that."

His brown eyes were alight and wide, his eyebrows lifted halfway to his hair, his grin was open-mouthed and completely pleased with himself. His brand-new purple tie was too tight and looked far better than it should've against the blue of his suit. Rose thought it definitely needed to be tugged loose.

Of all his traits, she was so glad he still had this one, able to be enthused by the smallest, most seemingly mundane thing. He looked so _alive_. He made her feel so alive.

"Rose," said the Doctor, in a lower, sharper register.

"Mm-hmm?" she said expectantly, eyes still idling on him and the serious expression dawning in his eyes.

He grabbed the wheel. "The road!" he shouted frantically, yanking the wheel to the right in time to narrowly evade plowing down an oncoming black mini-Cooper. Rose, jerked back against her seat by the sudden movement, tightened her grip on the wheel.

"I've got it," she growled, eyes focused ahead, rapidly wheeling one hand over the other to smoothly pull over to the side of the road. It wasn't easy, since the Doctor kept his broad bony hands on top of the wheel too, trying to do the exact same thing from shotgun.

They ended up skidding off the road while turning a full 360 degrees, coming short of a tailspin only because Rose had the good sense to slam the brakes. They were well off it, three more cars whizzed by in a succession of seconds. The Doctor finally let go of the wheel, but in pulling his long arms back, one of them swept over Rose's head and caught on the pinned front of her hair.

"Ow," she said, ducking away, which only made it harder for him to disentangle himself. She elbowed him, and his hand shot back, taking a few strands of her hair with him. Rose leaned back with a huff of breath, pushing her hair off her face.

The Doctor let out his own huff of air and burst out laughing with it.

"Shut up," said Rose warningly, brandishing her elbow at him.

He kept laughing.

She turned off the car, rather than leaving it stalled. "That was on you, anyhow," she said. "With your talking, and, and things."

"Honestly, I was only talking about harmonicas," said the Doctor, shaking his head. "Not a valid excuse for distraction. Now, if I'd been playing a harmonica-"

"Can you play a harmonica?" said Rose, surprised.

The Doctor hesitated. "I'm very musical," he said.

"Yeah, but how are you with harmonicas?" she said, persisting.

"Brilliant," he said immediately. "Almost certainly."

"Can't," she said, tongue pressing against her teeth as she laughed silently.

"Could," he said, still looking delighted himself. "If it was a Venusian harmonica, anyhow."

"As in Venus?"

"No, as in Venusia- of course as in Venus."

He leaned towards her and she drew in her breath thinking _about damned time_. She'd chased him down, she'd kissed _him_, and it was his move now, it was all on him because he'd kissed her back but they'd never been like that before and she wasn't sure she knew how to be more without ruining what they already were, to be sure he wanted what she wanted. Because this Doctor needed to show her how he loved her, since even though it had always been so easy to forget, even now he was only_ part_ human and she loved him too much to push him. Yet here they were, pulled over in a blue Jeep smack in the middle of the Italian countryside, laughing and together and really Rose thought it was an absolutely fantastic time for their relationship to take a few human leaps forward. It was all the same and all so new but his breath was brushing against her face and for a moment she was sure new was _good_.

And then his breath whooshed right past her face, as he pulled out the keys and leaned back into his own seat, twirling the key ring triumphantly around his fingers.

"So," he said, popping the word and grinning. "Are you going to let me drive now?"

Rose resisted the impulse to strangle him. She'd gotten used to moments like this a few years ago, she could get used to it again. Her patience was admittedly thin, but there was bound to be an adjustment period. And the Doctor did _dance_, she knew that, only not with her – not _yet_.

She was pretty sure he would, the way he'd kissed her back, but she supposed it wasn't fair to jump the bones of this new-new-new man. She'd keep telling herself that.

"Well?" he said, still jingling the keys.

She thought about his question for a moment, once she'd remembered what it was, then sighed, adjusting the ends of her hair. "Ten quid the Italian police pull you over within the hour," she said, because _Yes _meant surrender.

The keys fell silent and he frowned, lowering his hands to his lap. She didn't like seeing the life drain from his face that quickly. It gave him a wan look.

"Fine, benefit of the doubt, three hours," said Rose, holding up three fingers.

"Rose, I don't have ten quid," said the Doctor quietly.

He'd always pulled money practically out of the air and now here he was with empty hands, with only her and the money Pete had wired to her to take them where they wanted to go. She drew in a breath at the seriousness in his eyes. "Well then," she said resolutely. "I suppose I'll have to take my winnings out of you in flesh."

He gaped. She froze.

"That is- that was-"

"Do you m-" the Doctor stopped himself as they both spoke at once. "You first," he said, quickly.

"That was a rather poor Shakespeare reference," said Rose resolutely. "What were you-"

He was smiling again, though she wasn't sure if that was to her relief or her disappointment. He opened the door on his side in one smooth movement. "Hop out, Rose Tyler," he instructed. "You know, you're my favorite passenger but as a driver- quite honestly, you scare me."

"Says you," she said, insulted, even though she opened her door as well. "After all, you were only thirty miles over the speed limit-"

"Oi-"

"You were."

"Yeah, but I was still driving well," he said loudly, peering at her through the windows as they walked around the car from opposite ends. "Not my fault full humans can't safely handle highways with speeds over a hundred miles an hour-"

"No speeding," she called back.

"It takes so long to get anywhere," he grumbled, getting in the driver's seat a second after she got hers, a bit disgruntled she beat him around. "And we've only got so much time."

"We've got enough," said Rose firmly. She gestured to the green rolling hills and the silhouettes of villas a few miles off, took a deep breath of the fresh air, which seemed to have an extra flavor to it, something a touch earthier. "It's a bit nice, really, taking it all in this way with you along."

"Stopping to smell the roses," said the Doctor off-handedly, eyes on the countryside. "Oh yes, the slow path has its upside. Though the Jeep can't exactly make us breakfast. Hungry?" he asked her, nodding to the open road.

"Absolutely," said Rose fervently.

They shut the doors in unison. She nodded to his seat belt as he moved to turn the keys. The Doctor buckled himself in resignedly.

She liked him safe.

"Oh fine then," said the Doctor, shaking his head. "We'll trundle along and I won't get us pulled over." He started the car, looking over at her with a wink. "You'll have to find another excuse to get my flesh."

Rose blinked. "I'll come up with something," she said, a touch throatier than she meant to sound.

After all, there were endless miles of road to ride and though he didn't know it yet, sooner or later she'd be taking back those keys.


End file.
